In a response to Cosby's motion to dismiss the case, suburban Philadelphia prosecutors alleged that Cosby may have been "committing similar crimes for decades and getting away with it, all over the country, using his celebrity and fortune to avoid the consequences."

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele also said Wednesday that there was no valid agreement to never prosecute the comedian, as a former prosecutor claimed. Former District Attorney Bruce Castor is expected to testify next month for the defence that he made the deal to persuade Cosby to testify in the accuser's 2005 civil lawsuit.

Common Pleas Judge Steven O'Neill has scheduled a Feb. 2 hearing on the defence motion to dismiss the criminal case. Cosby has not yet entered a plea, and his lawyer did not immediately return a call for comment Wednesday. In his deposition, Cosby called his feelings toward the accuser "romantic" and their encounter that night in January 2004 consensual.

Steele argued that Castor maintains he granted Cosby immunity "via a press release," but said that fell far short of a court-approved immunity agreement. He noted that the press release quoted Castor as saying he could revisit the decision later if the need arose.

"Such a need did arise, but not until July 2015, when a federal judge -- over defendant's objection -- made portions of his civil deposition public for the first time," Steele wrote. "This new evidence, as well as the resulting public claims by numerous women that defendant had also sexually assaulted them, triggered a renewed investigation."

Cosby also acknowledged in the deposition that he had gotten quaaludes in the 1970s to use as a seduction tool, another factor Steele said he weighed as he considered charges.

The case marks the first time that Cosby has ever faced criminal charges despite years of accusations that he had drugged and molested women.

Both Cosby and his accuser say he gave her wine and three blue pills. The key question is whether she consented to the sexual activity that followed and what the pills contained. Cosby has said they were Benadryl pills, but her lawyers believe they were something stronger that left her semi-conscious.

Cosby, though, has described her as a willing participant in what he called a "petting" session that included digital penetration. She went to police a year later, near home in Toronto, and said she had been drugged and violated.

Cosby, now 78, settled her civil lawsuit after giving four days of often-combative deposition testimony in 2005 and 2006. His testimony, released last year, includes admissions that the long-married family values advocate had had a series of affairs with young women.

Steele also argued Wednesday that the hearing on the motion to dismiss is premature. He said the rules in Pennsylvania call for such motions to be filed only after a preliminary hearing. O'Neill scheduled the hearing in place of the preliminary hearing that had been set for the same day before a magistrate.

Steele also objected to defence efforts to disqualify his office because the Cosby case was an issue in his fall campaign against Castor. Steele called any comments he made during the campaign "straightforward."

Advertisements

Latest Entertainment News

Modern Family star Sofia Vergara has maintained her title as the highest-paid actress on TV for the sixth year running.
The Colombian beauty tops the annual Forbes magazine poll with an estimated $41.5 million in pre-tax earnings for the year since June 1, 2016, thanks to her multiple licensing and endorsement deals with companies like CoverGirl, Head & Shoulders, and Pepsi.
Source

Shania Twain, “Now,” (Mercury Nashville)
When Shania Twain declares on her new album, “I’m independent to a fault, I know this well,” she’s singing about love, but she could be talking about her career as well.
Twain broke a lot of the norms in country music in the mid-90s, flaunted her sexuality and her midriff (gasp) and incorporated rock riffs into her danceable country pop melodies.
Source

TORONTO -- Netflix is making Toronto's all-night contemporary arts festival a little stranger on Saturday. In the lead-up to the second season of "Stranger Things" next month, the streaming service says it will recreate the world of the Upside Down for Nuit Blanche.
Source

“Sleeping Beauties” (Scribner), by Stephen and Owen King
Of all the gifts a father can give his son, near the top must be a co-written novel. After all, slapping the name Stephen King on the cover pretty much guarantees a bestseller.
Source

NEW YORK -- Before heading into the studio for her sixth album, Demi Lovato began to overthink her singing career and she felt burnt out. What helped her refuel? A Grammy nomination. The 25-year-old singer, who released her debut in 2008 at 16, earned her first nomination at the 2017 Grammy Awards for her 2015 album, "Confident.
Source

The Dick Wolf empire's new but not exactly compelling eight-part miniseries for NBC, "Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders" (premiering Tuesday), can be interpreted as an envious response to the thunder-stealing, sensational 2016 series "The People v.
Source

A monthly look at what’s scheduled to be added to the catalogues of streaming services Netflix Canada and CraveTV in October:
TOP PICKS
Supernatural pop culture sensation “Stranger Things” returns to the Upside Down with a second season Oct.
Source

NEW YORK -- Worokya Duncan is the director of inclusion for a private school in Manhattan, so her embrace of diversity is a no-brainer. She's also a big makeup person frustrated over the years by cosmetics companies that don't seem to get how important it is for women of colour like her to be serviced, too.
Source

NEW YORK — Robert Plant is going on tour in North America next year to support his upcoming album, “Carry Fire.”
The former Led Zeppelin frontman announced Tuesday that his 2018 tour will begin Feb. 9 in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Source